Census-designated place · Lafourche Parish, Louisiana

Bayou Blue, Louisiana

Bayou Blue is a census-designated place in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, part of the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA metro area. It has 12,218 residents. Bayou Blue, Louisiana has a quality-of-life score of 7 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,483 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Louisiana it ranks #133 of 262 cities and towns. It ranks best on comfortable days (high), effective property tax rate (low) and time spent in the emergency room (low). It ranks worst on job growth (low), child poverty rate (high) and depression (high).

7Very low

Quality-of-life score: #14,483 of 15,651 cities and towns
Louisiana: #133 of 262 in LA
Population: 12,218 (2020-2024)
Land area: 23 mi²
Density: 525.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 2205175

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety21#12,308/15,637
Economy18#12,865/15,631
Housing25#11,223/14,977
Health5#14,863/15,609
Healthcare36#10,029/15,650
Environment44#8,630/15,453
Education14#13,532/15,649
Infrastructure13#13,554/15,650
Community6#14,742/15,651
Leisure & amenities46#8,423/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Bayou Blue, Louisiana ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Lafourche Parish value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Comfortable days · high33.8%
93/100Louisiana 29.3%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationLafourche Parish value
Effective property tax rate · low0.46%
90/100Louisiana 0.55%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Time spent in the emergency room · low121 min
87/100Louisiana 135 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLafourche Parish value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Louisiana 1United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLafourche Parish value
Gyms and fitness centers · high1.8 /10k
82/100Louisiana 1.4 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLafourche Parish value
Pharmacies · high2.1 /10k
77/100Louisiana 2.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLafourche Parish value

Weaknesses

Job growth · low-6.0%
1/100Louisiana -0.5%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataLafourche Parish value
Child poverty rate · high38.3%
2/100Louisiana 25.0%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Depression · high31.3%
2/100Louisiana 27.2%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Social associations · low4.2 /10k
3/100Louisiana 9.4 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLafourche Parish value
Adult obesity · high46.0%
3/100Louisiana 42.3%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Frequent mental distress · high22.5%
4/100Louisiana 21.3%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
11,401 (2015-2019) → 12,218 (2020-2024)
+7.2%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
16.3% (2015-2019) → 38.3% (2020-2024)
+22 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
51.0% (2015-2019) → 38.5% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Poverty rateWorsening
13.4% (2015-2019) → 23.9% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
8.5% (2015-2019) → 15.5% (2020-2024)
+7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
13.8% (2015-2019) → 8.2% (2020-2024)
−5.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Bayou Blue, Louisiana improved on 3 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 3. 7 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Rent / income−13 points51.0% → 38.5%
Uninsured−5.6 points13.8% → 8.2%
Bachelor's++7 points8.5% → 15.5%

Declined3

Child poverty+22 points16.3% → 38.3%
Poverty+11 points13.4% → 23.9%
Inequality+0.0490.397 → 0.447

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Bayou Blue, Louisiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	32.6 min2015-2019	30.6 min2020-2024	−2.0 min	Within the margin of error	70%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.5%2015-2019	15.5%2020-2024	+7 points	Improved	79%
Broadband subscriptions	84.7%2015-2019	89.8%2020-2024	+5.1 points	Within the margin of error	33%
Child poverty rate	16.3%2015-2019	38.3%2020-2024	+22 points	Declined	4%
Effective property tax rate	0.40%2015-2019	0.46%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	9%
High school diploma or higher	80.6%2015-2019	82.7%2020-2024	+2.1 points	Within the margin of error	59%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	3.0×2020-2024	+0.6×	Within the margin of error	42%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3972015-2019	0.4472020-2024	+0.049	Declined	17%
Median household income	$66,2012015-2019	$63,9582020-2024	−3.4%	Within the margin of error	5%
Poverty rate	13.4%2015-2019	23.9%2020-2024	+11 points	Declined	4%
Rent as share of income	51.0%2015-2019	38.5%2020-2024	−13 points	Improved	96%
Rent-burdened households	63.2%2015-2019	60.2%2020-2024	−3 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	13.8%2015-2019	8.2%2020-2024	−5.6 points	Improved	89%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Bayou Blue, Louisiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Bayou Blue, Louisiana in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Bayou Blue, Louisiana itself moved −5.3 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

12,218 residents (±1,381)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

4,253 households (±418)

Bayou Blue, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Under $25k18%†756
$25k–50k24%†1,037
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

4,253 households (±418)

Bayou Blue, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Own90%3,810
Rent10%†443

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

5,142 workers (±593)

Bayou Blue, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Drive alone79%4,054
Carpool9.3%†478
Public transit0.5%†24

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Lafourche Parish, the county holding most of Bayou Blue's residents.

Lafourche Parish has 1,685 employer establishments, 177 for every 10,000 residents (0.71× the US rate of 248; 0.75× Louisiana's), with 28,210 paid employees at an average annual pay of $66,778. The Census Bureau also counts 7,347 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,685; 7,347 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 177; US 248 · Louisiana 236
Paid employees: 28,210
Average annual pay: $66,778; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Lafourche Parish by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	144	15.1	0.73×Fewer than typical	1,782	$70,635	280
Restaurants and other eating places	121	12.7	0.69×Fewer than typical	2,223	$19,289	51
Specialty trade contractors	111	11.7	0.75×Fewer than typical	649	$55,508	685
Limited-service restaurants	59	6.2	0.77×Fewer than typical	1,101	$19,597	14
Building equipment contractors	56	5.9	0.98×About typical	255	$54,780	120
Offices of physicians	53	5.6	0.86×About typical	608	$94,984	46
Insurance agencies and brokerages	52	5.5	1.24×About typical	199	$64,487	115
Gasoline stations	46	4.8	1.49×More than typical	621	$23,502	—
Full-service restaurants	45	4.7	0.62×Fewer than typical	936	$19,924	23
Automotive repair and maintenance	41	4.3	0.86×About typical	156	$38,962	104
Construction of buildings	40	4.2	0.56×Fewer than typical	158	$63,741	238
Offices of other health practitioners	38	4	0.66×Fewer than typical	240	$38,471	111

Rank places for an industry Open Lafourche Parish

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 95,199 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $11.7M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Bayou Blue, Louisiana: $960 per resident (US $2,007).

Obligations: $11.7M; +196% vs FY2025
Per resident: $960; US $2,007
Sole-source: 58%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.7%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY & HEALTH CONSULTING SERVICES, INC.$6.4M55%
VALOR HEALTHCARE INC$4.8M41%
LAREDO CONSTRUCTION, INC$295.1K2.5%
T & T MARINE SALVAGE, INC.$108.7K0.9%
BLUEWATER MANAGEMENT GROUP LLC$63.7K0.5%

Spending by fiscal year

1.2MFY2017
788.9KFY2018
1.1MFY2019
88.5KFY2020
1.4MFY2021
6.3MFY2022
3.2MFY2023
4.7M

Top industries (NAICS)

Remediation and other waste management services · 5629$6.8M58%
Outpatient care centers · 6214$4.8M41%
Traveler accommodation · 7211$71.1K0.6%
Cement and concrete product manufacturing · 3273$51.1K0.4%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$26.3K0.2%

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Bayou Blue, Louisiana

UCGPN26017 PROVIDE LABOR, MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT TO MITIGATE THE HARMFUL AFFECT OF OIL SPILL OR HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL INCIDENT, AS DIRECTED BY THE FEDERAL ON SCENE COORDINATOR REPRESENTATIVE.$9M
ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY & HEALTH CONSULTING SERVICES, INC.· Lafourche Parish, LA· Facilities & utilities· Apr 13, 2026 – Aug 20, 2026· 70Z08426FGALV0008
HOUMA, LA CBOC (OUTPATIENT CLINIC) - FUNDING FOR ORDERING PERIOD 3 (4/1/2026 - 9/30/2026)$4.4M
VALOR HEALTHCARE INC· Lafourche Parish, LA· Health & medical· Mar 10, 2026 – Sep 22, 2026· 36C25626N0420
HOUMA, LA CBOC (OUTPATIENT CLINIC) - FUNDING FOR ORDERING PERIOD 2 - 10/01/2025 - 03/31/2026$3.4M
VALOR HEALTHCARE INC· Lafourche Parish, LA· Health & medical· Oct 1, 2025 – Oct 1, 2025· 36C25626N0084

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Bayou Blue, Louisiana, so they do not add up across cities.

Bayou Blue, Louisiana's figures are part of those of Lafourche Parish, LA and Terrebonne Parish, LA ($2.5B in FY2026), never added to them: 0.5% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Bayou Blue is mostly in Lafourche Parish.

See federal money in Lafourche Parish

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Bayou Blue, Louisiana is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA32

Other cities and towns in Lafourche Parish

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2205175

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends